The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-10-31
NOR ONlSM'S EVOLUTION
NE'ER Do WELL JOSEPH SMITH
AND HIS OWNING ROD.
His Story of Finding the Gold Tablets
Sidney Rigdons Advent-The Won
derful Goggles Harris Visit to the

! derful GpggleS-HarrlS' Visit TO Cue
Moon.
From the Springfield Republican,.
In 1929 and 80 was a STRIPPING in dry
goods store in the village of Palmyra,
Wayne county, N. Y, in the outskirts of
which miniature city Joseph Smith, Jr.,
Familiarity and universally called Joe,
resided at the time as he had done for
considerable period previously. Joe was
enc of those meier do weel" persons with
out any regular occupation, that are so
often found hanging about such towns;
doing odd jobs occasionally, when driven to
it by sheer necessity to keep from starving.
/ His principal occupation seemed to he
digging for gold at night and lying in bed
during the day, till he would be driven TO
make some effort in employments OF less
doubtful result than money digging to
maintain an existence. Joe in niS excursions
after gold carried divining rod to tell him
where there was hidden treasure, and left
| many holes in the ground about that region,
which testified that he could work if the
! spirit moved. He had all the superStitionS
| of the money diggers of that day, one OF
| which was that the digging must be done
| by night and not u word must be spoken,
| for at the first utterance the gold would fly
| away TO some other locality; in fact, Joe
| claimed that he had more than once been
upon the point of reaching some great
| treasure, when, in his eagerness some I'M
lucky exclamation would escape him, and
presto, the treasure would vanish from
under his feet.
This, as | was informed. had been Joe's
manner OF life ana occupation for some
| years prior to the time knew him. Finally,
| however, he claimed to have found
veritable bonanza in the shape of heavy
gold plates beautifully engraved in some
ancient language or characters He pretend
to have found these on the top of a singular
hill in the town of Manchester, Ontario
county, n. Y, directly 10y the side of the
road leadining from Canandaigua to Pal
myra, and which from that time was always
called Gold Hill. | call the hill singular
from its shape and relation to the surround
| ing country, for it was entirely isolated,
rising from a substantially level plain in an
| almost ellipse, some eighty feet high aud
about 200 yards long by fifty wide, while
its slopes were as regular. neatly rounded,
and symmetrical as If constructed by the
most accomplished civil engineer. How
much the peculiar features of the hill had
to do with its selection by Joe as the loca-
ton for his find it would be difficult to
decide: but he had dug it over pretty we'll
in search for treasure, and he might easily
have imagined that it had been constructed
| by the hand of man in some remote age,
and hence an inviting field to a seeker after
| hidden gold while | have often thought
! that the pecuiarties of the location where
| Joe pretended to have found the plates had
its effect in securing some of the early
| proselytes who were acquainted with the
spot. The plates Joe described as being
about five by eight inches in size, and very
| thick; but how thick ne never stated. AT
| first he did not claim that these plates were
! any new revelation or that they had any
| religious significance, but simply that he
had found a valuable treasure in the shape
of record of some ancient peoples which
had been inscribed on iInperishable gold for
preservation. The pretended gold plates
were never allowed to be seen, though |
have heard Joe's mother say that she had
| lifted them when covered with cloth, and
| they were very heavy, so heavy, i'll fact,
| that she could scarcely raise them, though
| she was q very robust woman. What Joe
| at that time expected to accomplish seems
| difficult to understand, but he soon began TO
| exhibit what he claimed to be copies of the
| characters engraved on the plates, though
| the irreverent were disposed to think that
he was more indebted to the characters
| found on China tea-chestS than to any plates
he had dug up in Manchester. Before long,
however, new party appeared on the scene
| in the person of one Sidney Rigdon, and
|
| the whole matter
Rigtion was one of those keen, sharp
| fellows, who, had he lived in our day, would
| have been broker dealing with the lambs
| on margins or as confidence man, hanging
around in our principal cities and looking
out for victims. He is the man who at
later day, it is said, directed the Mountain
Meadow massacre. Very soon
after his advent it was given out
| that the plates were new
revelation, and were part of the original
| Bible, while Joe Smith was a true prophet
of the Lord, to whom it was given to pub
lish it among men. Rigdon, who, from his
first appearance was regarded as the
| brains of the movement, seemed satisfied
to be the power behind the throne. Not
only were pretended copies of the engraved
plates exhibited but whole chapters of
what were called translations were shown:
meetings were held which were addressed
by Smith and Rigdon, and an active can
vaSs for converts was inaugurated. Strange
as it may appear from the absurdity of tine
claims put forth, and the well-known
character of Joe Smith, these efforts were
to quite a degree successful, particularly
among the farmers OF the vicinity, quite a
number of whom that were regarded as
equal in Intelligence to the average rural
population became enthusiastic proselyteS
| to the new faith.
| JnO lcdLutO "a Jilt Chilli Ill IeldUlOn 10 L0e
translation from the plates was quite III
character with other claims that have been
from time TO time set up by the Mormon
church down to the present day. Joe Smith
was of course an illiterate man, and some
way must be provided for the translation
Of the record But Joe (or Rigdon) was
equal to the emergency. for he claimed to
have found with it the gold Bible (as
they then always called III wonderful pair
OF spectacles, which he described as having
very large round glasses, larger than
silver dollar, and he asserted that by placing
the plates in the bottom OF a hat or other
deep receptacle like wooden grain measure,
he could put on those spectacles, and, Look
ing down upon the plates, the engraved
characters were all translated INTO good
plain English, and he had only to read 1t off
and have it recorded by copyist
This claim, with all its absurdty, was not
more absurd than one that was made TO me
personally by one Martin Harris, who was
one of the early and most faithful prose
lytes Harris was u farmer of good prop
erty, residing about mile from the village.
with whom was well acquainted as a clls-
toner IF firm where / was employed. On
one occasion | had been sent out on horse.
back on collecting trip, and returning
Just in the early evening, as | passed the
house of Mr. Harris he came out, and
joining me we rode on together toward the